Bob Jensen's Tidbits

Bob Jensen's most recent photograph shown above appears under "sexy accountants" in David Albrecht's new accounting humor blog. He has the nerve to claim it really isn't a picture of me. I think he's jealous.

"Sexy Accounting–natural coupling or oxymoron?" The Summa: Debits and credits of accounting professor David Albrecht, September 5, 2008 --- http://profalbrecht.wordpress.com/

David wrote the following in a September 4, 2008 email message:

I currently live in NW Ohio. It may sound wierd to many people, but I would like to move north to where there is more of a winter.

Dave Albrecht
Bowling Green

Jensen Comment
Beware of what you wish for David, because it might happen (the icicles are real) --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2008/tidbits080219.htm

The winds up here are real, but not quite as bad as those atop Mt. Washington when I am looking out at that mountain --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2007/tidbits071218.htm
But we do have winds on Sunset Hill that would lift me off the ground like Mary Poppins if I weighed half as much as I weigh now. My 222 lbs keep me on the ground most days.
You can almost feel the wind looking at one of the pictures here --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2008/tidbits080407.htm

And, sigh, when you’re enjoying your Ohio Azaleas in April we must wait up here until June.
Compare are our Azaleas in April versus June --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2008/tidbits080708.htm

I like where I live now, but then I’ve liked every single place where I’ve ever lived including:

· An Iowa farm where I recall looking over a team of horses at oat bundles that nearly reached the horizon at harvest time --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/max01.htm

· A battleship at sea and a boarding house alongside the Iowa State University campus ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2007/tidbits070723.htm

· A University of Denver coed dormitory (sadly not quite as coed in those days but we had a common lounge and dining hall)

· An old Victorian Lodge on the Stanford campus (shared with 20 other graduate students)
It was called Manzanita Lodge and was covered with magenta Bouganvilla.

· An old dairy farm in Michigan (with one cow named “Roast Beef”)
And there was a dumb basset hound named Andy who slept at the top of the stairs and, on occasion, fell down the stairs while turning around in the night.

· A beach cottage on the ocean in Maine (I miss digging up those steamer clams)
Did you ever buy huge lobsters right off the boat and steam them on the beach at night with best friends three sheets to the wind by the time they sat down on the sand to eat like natives on a tropical island?
How To Eat Lobster --- http://www.gma.org/lobsters/eatingetc.html

· An acreage with two horses on the outskirts of Tallahassee (I miss the smell of saddle leather soaked in sweat)

· A lovely house in San Antonio and an elderly retired couple across the street who watched out the window almost daily and ordered us, five minutes after I got home from work, to get our butts over for happy hour (people are often more beautiful than mountains)
I do get lonesome for Texas swing music and dance halls big enough to have bull riding late at night --- http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=CMZaUwiv96M

· A 140 year old cottage overlooking three mountain ranges to the east (White Mountains of New Hampshire) and one mountain range in west (Green Mountains of Vermont) --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/NHcottage/NHcottage.htm
Erika and I love walking down the road during a blizzard to have a beer and a hamburger in the cozy tavern of the Sunset Hill House Hotel. Memories are made of this.

And yes David, I could also be very happy Bowling Green, OH or Manhattan or Luckenbach, TX or San Antonio (although I’m no longer fond of hot and humid weather and city traffic). I’ve been blessed, because everywhere I relocated something or somebody always made me glad to be alive. I certainly hope that life is the same for each and every one of you on the AECM.

I’m certain that you would be a good neighbor with a great sense of humor David and a lot of enthusiasm for life. After my mother died in 1996, my father wanted to live on in his long-time home in Algona, Iowa. I was 1,200 miles due south at the time, but he had neighbors who made his life a wonderful until he passed on to the other side in 2001. He died happy and content in his sleep after watching (on television) the Patriots play football in a snowstorm.

How in the heck did I get off on this tangent?

Despite these noteworthy linguistic strides, the Academy presents Orwell 2008 to a college counselor who advises his clients to deliberately make mistakes on their applications so they "don’t sound like robots." After all, "if you fall into the trap of trying to do everything perfectly," without "typos" and other "creative errors," there's just "no spark left."
Fifteenth Annual Emperor's Awards, Guest commentary by Poor Elijah (Peter Berger), The Irascible Professor, August 19, 2008 --- http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-08-19-08.htm
Jensen Comment
The same can be said for blogs and newsletters.

On May 14, 2006 I retired from Trinity University after a long and wonderful career as an accounting professor in four universities. I was generously granted "Emeritus" status by the Trustees of Trinity University. My wife and I now live in a cottage in the White Mountains of New Hampshire --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/NHcottage/NHcottage.htm

Online Video, Slide Shows, and Audio
In the past I've provided links to various types of music and video available free on the Web.
I created a page that summarizes those various links --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/music.htm

Front Fell Off (two hilarious Aussie comedians) --- http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=WcU4t6zRAKg
On August 19th 2007, an oil tanker off the coast of Australia split in two, dumping 20,000 tons of crude oil. Senator Collins, a member of the Australian Parliament, "supposedly" appeared on a TV news program to reassure the Australian public.

The Friedman Archives (great photographs) --- http://www.friedmanarchives.com/

Two Men (slide show) --- http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/TwoMen.pps

Charlie Parker (films in history) --- http://tsutpen.blogspot.com/

The Atlas of Early Printing (interactive slide show) --- http://atlas.lib.uiowa.edu/

MoMA: Kirchner and the Berlin Street (Art History Slide Show) --- http://moma.org/exhibitions/2008/kirchner/kirchner.html

Zaida Ben-Yusuf: New York Portrait Photographer --- http://www.npg.si.edu/exhibit/zaida/index.html

Portrait Gallery of Canada --- http://www.portraits.gc.ca/index-e.html

Portraits of Modern Japanese Historical Figures (Video) --- http://www.ndl.go.jp/portrait/e/index.html

1800s Map of Washington DC (from the University of Maryland) --- http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=3285&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

Iowa City Town and Campus Scenes Digital Collection --- http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/cdm4/index_ictcs.php?CISOROOT=/ictcs

Buckaroos in Paradise: Ranching Culture in Northern Nevada, 1945-1982 --- http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/buckaroos/

NYPL Digital Library: Cigarette Cards: ABCs --- http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/explore/?collection=ABCsofCigaretteCards&col_id=161

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) --- http://www.sfmoma.org/media/features/miller/

Guggenheim Museum: Louise Bourgeois --- http://www.guggenheim.org/exhibitions/exhibition_pages/bourgeois/index.html

Museum of Contemporary Photography --- http://www.mocp.org/

National Gallery of London --- http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/

Irish Museum of Modern Art --- http://www.modernart.ie/en/index.htm

Masters of Photography (video) --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-Xu4PNWkV4

Samurai Gallery --- http://horse.shrine.net/

Online Books, Poems, References, and Other Literature
In the past I've provided links to various types electronic literature available free on the Web.
I created a page that summarizes those various links --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm

Vice-President Cheney is even more hated (if that's possible) than President Bush with respect to the Iraq War and the commitment of ever increasing U.S. troop strength in Iraq. In his latest book, Bob Woodward reveals that Cheney was left completely out of the loop with respect to decisions made to send in 30,000 additional troops and to replace General Casey with General Petraeus. Why? Because Bush knew that both Cheney and the Pentagon would oppose these decisions. Woodward also reveals a top secret weapon that, more than anything else, is making the Surge work.
Watch the video of Bob Woodward ---http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/04/60minutes/main4415771.shtml

No matter how you feel about Sarah Palin as a candidate, it’s fun to watch the Congress and the media squirm. What liberal reporters and correspondents have just made public apologies about their negative remarks about Gov. Palin?

Broken Promises and Pork Binges
The Democratic majority came to power in January promising to do a better job on earmarks. They appeared to preserve our reforms and even take them a bit further. I commended Democrats publicly for this action. Unfortunately, the leadership reversed course. Desperate to advance their agenda, they began trading earmarks for votes, dangling taxpayer-funded goodies in front of wavering members to win their support for leadership priorities.
John Boehner, "Pork Barrel Stonewall," The Wall Street Journal, September 27, 2007 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119085546436140827.html

Sarah Palin has put the flim-flam nature of America feminism sharply into focus, revealing the not-so-secret hypocrisy of its code and, whatever her future, this alone is an accomplishment. As she emerged into the nation's consciousness, a shudder went through the feminist left—a political movement not restricted to females. She is a mother refusing to stay at home (good) who had made a success out in the workplace (excellent) whose marriage nevertheless is a rip-roaring success and whose views are unspeakable—those of a red-blooded, right-wing principled pragmatist.
Barbara Amiel, "What Mrs. Palin Could Learn From Mrs. T, The Wall Street Journal, September 5, 2008; Page A15 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122057410046101771.html?mod=djemEditorialPage

There is nothing more dangerous to entrenched Washington power than a populist conservative who looks unlikely to buy into Washington's creature comforts. Take a close look at Governor Palin's record on ethics and energy in Alaska, and it becomes clear what this Beltway outburst is actually about. The irony is that while Senator Obama is running on change, his acceptance speech made explicit that he's promising only more power and money for Washington. Sarah Palin's history of taking on the career politicians of a corrupt Alaskan GOP machine -- her own party -- shows that she's the more authentic change agent.
"The Beltway Boys," The Wall Street Journal, September 3, 2008; Page A22 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122039719000892745.html?mod=djemEditorialPage
Jensen Comment
The fear of Palin is bipartisan on the Beltway.

She has the power of the normal. Hillary Clinton is grim, stentorian, was born to politics and its connivances. Nancy Pelosi, another mother of five, often seems dazed and ad hoc. But this state governor and mother of a big family is a woman in a good mood. There is something so normal about her, so "You've met this person before and you like her," that she broke through in a new way, as a character vividly herself, and vividly genuine. . . . She seemed wholly different from, and in fact seemed a refutation to, all the men of Washington at their great desks who make rules others have to live by but they don't have to live by themselves, who mandate work rules from which they exempt Congress, for instance. They don't live by the rules they espouse. She has lived her expressed values. She said yes to a Down Syndrome child. This too is powerful . . . Her flaws accentuated her virtues. Now and then this happens in politics, but it's rare. An example: The very averageness of her voice, the not-wonderfulness of it, highlighted her normality: most people don't have great voices. That normality in turn highlighted the courage she showed in being there, on that stage for the first time in her life and under trying circumstances. Her averageness accentuated her specialness. Her commonality highlighted her uniqueness.
Peggy Noonan, "'A Servant's Heart'," The Wall Street Journal, September 6, 2008 4:48 p.m.; Page A11 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122059352189503479.html?mod=djemEditorialPage
Jensen Comment
I suspect in the end that the liberal media and the self-serving intellectuals of academe who live by government grants will destroy Sarah Palin, but for her short 15 minutes of fame, isn't it grand to see NBC, Jon Stewart, Keith Olbermann, Newsweek, and the New York Times squirm in their biases and hypocrisy? Sure she accepted the earmarks dangling in front of her for the benefit of her constituency. But so did Senator Obama accept earmarks for his constituency. Nancy Pelosi let earmarks soar after she had the power to curtail this corruption. Do Jon and Keith ever poke fun at the scars on Pelosi's ears?

If you've ever seen a lady with a bee in her bonnet, and all the crazy contortions she'll make to get the darned thing out before it stings her lovely head, you'll understand precisely why the Democrats are taking such crude swats at Governor Sarah Palin. . . . So, what's clearly at the bottom of all the Democrat angst over Governor Sarah Palin? She's not their kind of ordinary, good-old-wink-and-nod party pol. She'll be a bee in the bonnet of every pork-laden, greedy D.C. insider the same way she has been in Alaska. I sincerely doubt that there's a good ole boy or gal this side of hell who isn't squirming, swatting and contorting every which-way to take her out before her potent stinger lands in Washington next January. McCain and Palin are two reformers on the move.
Kyle-Anne Shiver, "Why Palin Is a Bee in Dems' Bonnets," American Thinker, September 1, 2008 ---
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/09/why_palin_is_a_bee_in_dems_bon.html

The Palin pick already, as Noemie Emery wrote, “Wipes out the image of McCain as the crotchety elder and brings back that of the fly-boy and gambler, which is much more appealing, and the genuine person.” But of course McCain needs Palin to do well to prove he’s a shrewd and prescient gambler. I spent an afternoon with Palin a little over a year ago in Juneau, and have followed her career pretty closely ever since. I think she can pull it off. I’m not the only one. The day after the V.P. announcement, I spoke with an old friend, James Muller, chairman of the political science department at the University of Alaska, Anchorage. He said that Palin “has been underestimated over and over again. She took on the party and state establishments here in Alaska, and left them reeling. She’s a very good campaigner, a quick study and a fighter.” Muller called particular attention to her successes in passing an increase to the oil production tax and facilitating the future construction of a huge natural gas pipeline. “At first the oil companies thought she was naïve, and they’d have their way. Instead she faced them down and forced them to compromise on her terms.” Can she face down the Democrats, Joe Biden and the national media over the next couple of months? John McCain is betting she can. Perhaps, as he pondered his vice-presidential selection, he recalled the advice of Margaret Thatcher: “In politics if you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman.”
William Kristol, "A Star Is Born?" The New York Times, September 1, 2008 --- Click Here
Jensen Comment
This was surprising to me in that it was printed in the GOP-hating NYT.

You want to look like a maverick and like you think outside the box? Pick a woman for a running mate. You want to look good to the evangelicals? Choose a running mate with a Down syndrome child . . . Fisherman, sportswoman, hunter. Speaks truth to power in a state corrupted by oil. Has a son headed to Iraq. A woman who made the decision to carry to term a baby she knew to be developmentally disabled. She makes John McCain, Naval Academy graduate, fighter pilot and prisoner of war, look like just another grouchy, old, rich white guy . . . If you are going to pick a woman for the sake of picking a woman, can you at least make it a credible choice? Can you at least make a choice that doesn't give the gag writers for Jay Leno and Jon Stewart the month off? (The jokes started immediately: She won't be able to hold her own against Joe Biden in a vice presidential debate. But wait until the swimsuit portion of the competition.)
Susan Reimer, The Baltimore Sun, September 1, 2008 --- http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation/bal-te.reimer01sep01,0,1829342.column

Susan Reimer was shocked to find that her substance free, lie filled attack on John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin generated “More than ~~8,200~~ 9,159 comments were posted to the column on The Baltimore Sun’s Web site. I received more than 700 personal e-mails and about 50 phone calls.” Even worse for Reimer, her gutter scraping column was read by Rush Limbaugh and Brit Hume and was linked by Drudge as an example of the outrageous treatment that Palin has gotten at the hands of feminist media elites like Reimer. Oh, the humanity!
Werner Todd Huston, "Baltimore Sun Columnist Whines Readers Being Mean to Her," Public Forum, September 6, 2008 --- http://conservablogs.com/publiusforum/2008/09/06/palin-smearing-baltimore-sun-columnist-whines-readers-being-mean-to-her/

An apology? Not really.
The things that were said about me (replies to her attack on Sarah Palin), my personal appearance and my children - as well as Barack Obama - were beyond the bounds of decency, and many were said in language that might only be seen in a bathroom stall. Generally, the comments were not made behind the veil of anonymity the Internet can provide. The writers signed their names. And they revealed what I think has become the bare-knuckles nature of our national conversation. So much pent-up anger, so much barely concealed hate was released in those e-mails and those postings. I wonder where next they will find a vent. It is still two months until the presidential election. Things could get really rough out there.
Susan Reimer, "Gloves came off when column came out," The Baltimore Sun, September 5, 2008 --- http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation/bal-te.reimer05sep05,0,3664358.column
Reamer gets reamed by her readers --- http://www.topix.net/forum/source/baltimore-sun/T4I0OVJRSID6BK8GM

. . . (NBC's Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea) Mitchell who said that only uneducated, female voters will be drawn to Sarah Palin, not those smart, college educated ones. At about 5:57 into this clip Andrea Mitchell was brought onto Meet the Press with Goodwin, David Gregory and host Tom Brokaw to tell us all that Sarah Palin will only appeal to uneducated women, not educated ones. At about 5:57 into this clip Andrea Mitchell was brought onto Meet the Press with Goodwin, David Gregory and host Tom Brokaw to tell us all that Sarah Palin will only appeal to uneducated women, not educated ones.
Newsbusters, August 31, 2008 --- http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2072189/posts

Say What?
Sally Quinn Apologizes for Sarah Palin Remarks (Video apology) --- http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=9FEANF9dR_8
Jensen Comment
I admire Ms Mitchell and Ms Quinn for apologizing. You would never catch Susan Reimer or Jon Stewart or Keith Olbermann apologizing. I take that back. Keith Olbermann did apologize for his graphic 9/11 tribute played in the lead-up to John McCain's acceptance of the nomination --- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/05/keith-olbermann-apologize_n_124179.html
And when I did a Google search on the phrase "Keith Olbermann aplogizes" I came up with hundreds of hits. Thanks Keith. And I got hundreds of others when I searched for "Jon Stewart apologizes," so I guess it just goes to show that the left wing TV comedians aren't all bad. Rush Limbaugh on occasion has apologized, but not nearly as often as Olbermann and Stewart. Bill O'Reilly, however, is the most apologetic of them all. Just goes to show you that fair play is equal opportunity.

Is The New York Times is apologizing for a Palin Smear? --- http://time-blog.com/real_clear_politics/2008/09/nyt_issues_retraction.html
Oops! No the NYT is not apologizing! The NYT's reporter "is completely confident in the word of a single source who has since retracted her claims? What kind of operation are the editors at the Times running?" asks Michael Goldfarb.

Ms Winfrey is by far the world’s best-paid television entertainer, earning an estimated $295 million in the year to June 2007, dwarfing the second-ranking Jerry Seinfeld, on $68 million, according to Forbes magazine. Simon Cowell, a creator and judge of American Idol, the US version of Pop Idol, came third with $51 million.
London Times, October 10, 2007 --- http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article2626198.ece

There is another question though which essentially I’ve heard expressed here many times today and from calls elsewhere, and that is the decision made by Sarah Palin herself, when knowing her daughter’s condition, by accepting John McCain’s offer she guaranteed that her daughter would be known globally as the best known 17-year-old unwed teenager in the world, and that decision many people question. I mean, Republicans, it’s not a partisan question. It’s just a question of whether in fact family values, and whether family values collide in this case. All candidates – David and I have talked about this – have healthy if not overly healthy ambitions. But there had to be some tension here. The ambition of going on a national ticket, and her love and consideration of her daughter, being known once and for all as ‘Aren’t you the daughter who was pregnant of the vice presidential candidate in 2008?
Mark Shields as quoted by Tim Graham, "PBS's Shields Slams Palin for Choosing Ambition Over Her Daughter," Newsbusters, September 2, 2008 --- http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tim-graham/2008/09/02/pbss-shields-slams-palin-choosing-ambition-over-her-daughter

Whoopi’s article concluded by suggesting Gov. Palin's speech reminded her of a German-American Nazi rally: "This girl (Palin) is dangerous to me. This is a very dangerous woman, because I believe for her intents and purposes, she’s OK if everybody lives a certain way, that is to say, the way God ordained men and women to be. Well, already she’s breaking that because she’s the daddy. She’s going to run the country and the husband is going to take care of the kids. I just,
Tim Graham, "Whoopi Goldberg: Palin Sounds Pro-Nazi: Wants to 'Succeed' From U.S. Newsbusters, September 2, 2008 ---
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tim-graham/2008/09/05/whoopi-goldberg-palin-sounds-pro-nazi-wants-succeed-u-s

"Anger at fake Sarah Palin photos as smear campaign makes her 'look like a stripper' " --- Click Here

"The Media loves to hate Sarah Palin," by Howie Carr, Boston Herald, September 7, 2008 --- Click Here

Faced with the Sarah Palin phenomenon, Wenner's (publisher of the Rolling Stones Magazine) liberal politics seem to have kicked into gear. While other celebrity-fixated magazines such as OK! cooed over the new Republican vice-presidential candidate, US Weekly devoted page after page to her teenage daughter's pregnancy, allegations over her conduct in office, as well as "new embarrassing surprises". However, the mass exodus of subscribers following the issue's launch seems
The First Post, Sepbember 5, 2008 --- http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/people,1350,jann-wenner-slips-up-with-sarah-palin-attack,43521

Nor should this blitz against the news media from the right be dismissed as simply glib and tired lines from the old Republican playbook. “The mainstream media, which has been holding endless symposia here on the future of media in the 21st century, is in danger of missing a central fact of that future,” wrote Peggy Noonan, the Wall Street Journal columnist and former speechwriter for Ronald Reagan. “If they appear, once again, as they have in the past, to be people not reporting the battle but engaged in the battle, if they allow themselves to be tagged by that old tag, which so tarnished them in the past, they will do more to imperil their own future than the Internet has.”
Mark Leibovich, "Who, Us?" The New York Times, September 7, 2008 ---
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/weekinreview/07leibovich.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Researchers have determined the secret to a fly's evasive maneuvering from a looming swatter by using high-resolution, high-speed digital imaging.
"Caltech Scientists Discover Why Flies Are so Hard to Swat." Converge Magazine, September 2, 2008 ---
http://www.convergemag.com/story.php?catid=421&storyid=107787
Jensen Comment
Homeland Security would like to remotely send what flies see back to the CIA and FBI. The problem to date is that the flies seem to prefer honing in on horse butts and Keith Olbermann rather than terrorists making bombs.

At a forum on Sunday, when Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell called MSNBC "the official network of the Obama campaign," Brokaw said, "I think Keith has gone too far. I think Chris has gone too far." Insiders say Olbermann is pushing to have Brokaw banned from the network and is also refusing to have centrist Time magazine columnist Mike Murphy on his show.
P.J. Gladnik quoting from the New York Post, Newsbusters, August 27, 2008 ---
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/p-j-gladnick/2008/08/27/keith-olbermann-trying-banish-tom-brokaw-msnbc
The Bad News Bush Videos on NBC --- http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#26567218
Also see http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6210240/
The Good News Bush Videos on NBC --- You've got to be kidding

Did major international media, including wire services Reuters and The Associated Press, clumsily help spread pro-Georgian propaganda during the recent war with Russia? Perhaps so, based on possibly staged photos by Reuters photogs David Mdzinarishvili and Gleb Garanich, and George Abdaladze, an ~~Reuters~~ AP shooter. Several blogs, most notably Byzantine Blog, have highlighted some, ahem, curious details in a series of photos claiming to portray civilian casualties of Russian attacks on the town of Gori. Danger Room pal Bryan William Jones, himself a photographer, brought our attention to this. On his own he noticed details in several pics that he says "made me sit up and say WTF?" One series of photos from Gori might show bodies changing location and poses, while one photogenic Georgian man appears in several different photo series, shot by different photogs, "grieving" for the dead ... apparently without ever looking at the camera being shoved in his face.The photos are especially suspect when compared to clearly real snapshots from the conflict, Jones points out.
David Axe, "Possibly Staged Pics Fueled Georgian Propaganda Push (Updated, Corrected and Bumped)," Danger Room, September 5, 2008 --- http://blog.wired.com/defense/

Rick Perlstein, the author of the recent "Nixonland" -- an 896-page argument that Nixon's malign influence on postwar American politics reflected the malignity of his own soul -- has now edited "Richard Nixon: Speeches, Writings, Documents." It is the latest in the James Madison Library in American Politics, of which Sean Wilentz, the eminent Princeton professor, is the general editor. The idea of collecting the 37th president's miscellaneous prose is excellent and overdue. Some of Nixon's most important writings -- for instance, 1967's "Asia After Viet Nam," where he first advanced the idea of bringing Red China in from the cold -- have been unavailable for a long time or hard to find. In a general editor's introduction, Mr. Wilentz states that this collection will be "the autobiography [Nixon] did not write" -- which is awkward because Mr. Perlstein's first selection is from "RN" (1978), the 1,038-page autobiography Mr. Nixon did write . . . A much more shrewd and realistic portrayal of Nixon can be found in Conrad Black's "Richard M. Nixon: A Life in Full." As in his 2003 biography of FDR, Lord Black combines a mastery of his material with elegant (if occasionally overreaching) prose; and he brings a worldly outlook and sophisticated analysis to his subject. He admires Nixon's accomplishments, but his book is hardly hagiography.
Frank Gannon, "Finally Getting to Know Him," The Wall Street Journal, August 28, 2008, Page A15 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121996708293781533.html?mod=djemEditorialPage

The United Nations has long been an enabler of Burma's tyrannical leaders. Last week it reached a new low. Ibrahim Gambari, the U.N.'s special envoy to Burma, spent six days in the country, meeting almost exclusively with government ministers and government-backed "political parties" to discuss the junta's "road map to democracy," under which "elections" will be held in 2010. As during prior trips, the junta rejected Mr. Gambari's offer of U.N. election monitors for 2010. The fact that Mr. Gambari is focusing on the next sham election instead of the current lack of political freedoms is a diplomatic victory for the generals. The ruling junta has already ignored international criticism for its crackdown on peaceful demonstrators last year and its mishandling of Cyclone Nargis, which killed 85,000 in May.
"U.N. ♥ Burma's Generals -- II," The Wall Street Journal, August 28, 2008 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121986623375877133.html?mod=djemEditorialPage

Only a united Europe could stop Russia from cutting bilateral deals that are advantageous for individual countries but disastrous for the EU as a whole. Only a united Europe could hold Gazprom accountable to transparency and competition rules, stopping the firm from dictating its terms and playing one EU country against the other. The EU correctly points out that Russia needs European energy consumers just as much as Europe needs Russian energy suppliers. Moscow, though, has managed to turn this mutual dependence into one-sided leverage. It's time to reverse this trend. Ultimately, it all comes down to political will in Western Europe -- and the longer Russian tanks remain in Georgia, the clearer it becomes that such will is lacking.
Zeyno Baran, "A Bear Energy Market," The Wall Street Journal, August 26, 2008 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121970256946770749.html?mod=djemEditorialPage

I came across this interesting speech by CFTC Commissioner, Bart Chillton. In this speech he gives three loopholes exploited by future market traders - Enron loophole, London loophole and Swaps loophole. Basically all have a similar theme- one market is regulated and other is not and both have near similar products. The regulators can only watch the former and the traders switch and build volumes in the latter. This is actually problematic as because of innovation, one can create similar instruments in another exchange and build up positions (he explains that is what Amaranth traders did). Now what should a regulator do? He says we need more cooperation between regulators.
Amol Agrawal, Mostly Economics, September 1, 2008 --- http://mostlyeconomics.wordpress.com/

What began as a team project they proposed during the 2007 Institute has turned into Enhanced Vehicle Acoustics, a San Francisco Bay Area-based business that has developed technology to transform nearly soundless hybrid cars into vehicles that pedestrians can hear. Meyer, who holds an MD and PhD in immunology from Stanford, told 2008 institute participants on July 10 about the challenges he sees for his new firm. Enhanced Vehicle Acoustics also involves Bai and a third key player, Brook Reeder, another ’07 Institute participant who holds a master’s degree from the Stanford Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics. “The spirit of this course is learning by trial and error and then pushing forward,” said Meyer. “We’ve had a lot of good advice.” The four-week business management program is designed for graduate students from non-business fields who have dreamed up a good idea for a company. There are 72 people attending the 2008 Institute, 66 of them from Stanford.
Michele Chandler, "Young Inventors Make Hybrid Cars Noisier," Stanford GSB News, July 2008 --- http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/news/headlines/hybrid_7_08.html
Jensen Comment
Why not just broadcast a recording of an 18-wheeler? I seriously tried this in an effort to keep armadillos from digging up my back yard in San Antonio. But it didn't work. The armadillos ignored my recordings altogether and continued to uproot my lawn on a nightly basis. I then tried to trap them, but they're wary of traps. I figured if I shot them with my 22-cal. pistol, the bullets would just bounce off their armor plating. I guess this is why they've survived since prehistoric times. They survived very well in my back yard.

Reconsidering Blackboard
The dominant — and domineering — provider of course-management software has become the company that many campus-technology officials love to hate, especially when it raises prices. Now more colleges are looking at free, open-source alternatives. But Blackboard promises that its new Next Generation software will keep the company ahead of competitors.

The Treasury Department on Sunday seized control of the quasi-public mortgage finance giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and announced a four-part rescue plan that included an open-ended guarantee to provide as much capital as they need to stave off insolvency.